A collaboration with Next sommelier Joe Catterson for the El Bulli menu. An ale accented with beets and oranges intended to pair with either a rabbit course or a concoction of bone marrow, smoked eel and nasturtium.

Glistening dark ruby red in the glass, an awesome color from the blood oranges. Pours a dark crystalline amber, with a thin layer of nearly tan foam. Some spotty froth around the edges, and a thin veil of skim that never breaks after the first few sips.

Very earthy aroma, the beets seem to take the lead, slightly herbal and vegetal.

Flavors are also earthy and bitter, though a light malt sweetness comes through in the middle, and some yeasty notes are also present. Lingering dry earthy bitterness lasts well into the aftertaste. Some residual earthy hop herbals in the background. Feel is medium bodied with a light effervescence. Drank this with a cevapi sausage dish and it was a nice pairing with the seasoned beef/pork mix.

Thanks to thetomG for picking this up from a random store shelf - not sure how these Next beers keep leaking into distribution. Served in a Captain Lawrence tulip.

A - White foam settles to a thin cap, thicker collar, and minimal lacework. Transparent ruby-brown body. Quite attractive, and with a bit more lacework it'd be perfect.

S - Smells like beets - not sure if this is a positive or negative in my books, but at least the beer delivers what it promises. There's that mix of starch and sugar that is unmistakable, along with some caramel malt sweetness, and perhaps the faintest note of tart citrus.

T - The taste is a bit more understated and as a result less successful. The beets are still there, but more on the starchy root vegetable side of things. There's also some toffee and biscuit malts, and mild earthy bitterness. Finishes fairly clean and crisp.

D - This was surprisingly enjoyable on the whole. I never considered that beets were something that should go into a beer, but Half Acre makes it work. Unfortunately the blood orange doesn't make much of an appearance. It's hard to evaluate this out-of-context, as I imagine it was integrated into Next's menu in a very specific way, but it's significantly better than Horizon was.

This was tasted first at Next Restaurant paired with two courses and then left at the table. Poured from a 22oz to a pair of goblets. The courses were very different. The first was bone marrow, eel, mustard wrapped in a flower and chased with cucumber. The second course was a braised rabbit. The beer went with both. The citrus on the front of the palate had a bit of a pithy quality but the finish combined what I assume was the sugary beets with a malty sweetness. After the meal, I happily took home a few bottles which have paired with nearly everything from gnocchi to fish.

A: Nice reddish hue but not too beet-red a finger of head that has some body to it, credit the 7%

S: Undertones of sugary malty-beets and hints of citrus

T: Pithy orange hit followed by full-richness and spice leading to a malty beet-sugar finish.

M: Great refreshing palate-cleanser that doesn't have any dominating components. Round and clean.

O: One of the most drinkable dinner-beers I can think of. I really dug it at Next but that was in the middle of 29 courses. Where the Half Acre Horizon was not as memorable, Sanguis stood up to the Spanish ciders, sherries, sakes and wines throughout the evening. Lucky to still have a couple left!